Coolest Bird?

Someone said this is the coolest bird! I agree!

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Birds are heeere!

The warm weather and luscious vegetation is attracting more variety of birds to our area. I moved the location of the feeders and seems that it works for me since I can shoot from my deck. It’s hot but it’s worth it because it’s a better angle especially if I soot in the afternoon.

I’m posting some of the shot I took recently.

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Chilean Flamingo

SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION
COMMON NAME: Chilean flamingo
KINGDOM: Animalia
PHYLUM: Chordata
CLASS: Aves
ORDER: Ciconiiformes
FAMILY: Phoenicopteridae
GENUS SPECIES: Phoenicopterus (crimson red winged) ruber (red) chilensis (of Chile)
FAST FACTS
DESCRIPTION: The Chilean flamingo is a tall, large bodied bird with a long neck and small head. Most flamingos, including this species, have pale pink plumage and bills. This subspecies of flamingo is slightly smaller than the Caribbean flamingo and has gray legs with pink bands at the joints.

Chilean Flamingo
SIZE: Approximately 80-145 cm (31-57 in) long
FEMALE Females tend to be smaller than males
WEIGHT: Approximately 1.9-3 kg (4.2-6.6 lbs)
DIET: Includes algae, diatoms, aquatic invertebrates such as crustaceans and mollusks
INCUBATION: 26-31 days
CLUTCH SIZE Usually 1 large egg
FLEDGING DURATION Approximately 11 weeks
SEXUAL MATURITY: Approximately 6 years
LIFE SPAN: In the wild, up to 50 years
RANGE: South America, from Chile to Argentina
HABITAT: Inhabits tropical and warm climates, both along the coast and at high altitudes
POPULATION: GLOBAL 200,000 or fewer individuals
STATUS: IUCN Not listed
CITES Appendix II
USFWS Lower risk/ Near threatened
FUN FACTS
1. In many languages, the word flamingo (originally derived from the Portuguese language meaning ‘red goose’) is a reference to their flying style formation and the noise they make.
2. All flamingos feed with their bills upside-down. They tip their head into the water and filter feed, using special hair like adaptations in the top half oftheir bill, to gather the microorganisms that make up their diet.
3. Flamingos are an ancient group of birds. Their fossil records dates back to the Miocene epoch, which is about 10 million years ago.
4. Flamingos are not born with their beautiful pink plumage. Their color comes from the carotenoid pigments they consume as part of their diet. Some scientists believe that a flamingo’s success in breeding relies on its bright color.
5. Both the male and female make the nests by scooping mud together with their feet and bill.
6. Both male and female adults, provide their young with a type of milk called crop milk.
7. Like other South American flamingos, these birds are able to endure cold temperatures.
 
ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
Flamingos have few natural predators because they live in remote, inhospitable places.Their mostly alkaline diet does not fit the needs of other animals. By eating the smallest of organisms, they not only keep watering holes productive, they also help circulate the waters by turning over the mud and silt on the bottom of rivers, streams, and ponds.Their uses to man are unfortunately the flamingo’s greatest problem. In the past, their tongues were a rare, pickled delicacy and their plumage was sometimes sought for its vibrant color. However, as with most animals, habitat destruction and exploitation is by far the flamingo’s greatest challenge.

Sea World Education Department Publication. Flamingos. Sea World, Inc. 1994.

All images © HJ Ruiz

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Inca Tern

Inca Tern – Spec.Name: Larosterna Inca

These birds are found along the Pacific coast from northern Peru south to central Chile. Mass dispersal and breeding failures have resulted periodically from El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events, and both fish-stocks and the populations of seabirds that depend upon them are adapted to these fluctuations. Population declines are usually promptly reversed, suggesting that food shortages trigger rapid dispersal not high mortality in adults and high reproduction rates (up to two successful broods in a year). Although fishing for anchoveta has been banned in Peru, and the guano industry adequately regulated, there are concerns that this species might be badly affected by the El Niño Southern Oscillation event of 19981. Prior to the guano industry (c.1850) there were millions of Inca Terns in Peru (according to accounts from Coker 1919, Hutchison 1950). Current numbers are much lower than two centuries ago, but they are common and breed in some localities. The total population has been estimated at more than 150,000 individuals.

Inca Tern

Habitat and Ecology: It breeds on inshore (and occasionally offshore) islands and rocky coastal cliffs. Nests are placed in suitable fissures, burrows, caves and cavities, sometimes the old nest of a Humboldt Penguin Spheniscus humboldti. It feeds, often in large flocks, on schooling anchoveta Engraulis ringens, mote sculpins Normanychtic crokeri and silversides Odothestes regia regia found in the cold water of the Humboldt Current. Additionally, this species scavenges offal and scraps from sea-lions and fishing boats. One or two eggs are incubated for about four weeks, and the chicks leave the nest after seven weeks. Birds feed by plunge diving for fish.

Native:

Chile; Colombia; Ecuador; Peru

Vagrant:

Panama

Note: The photo displayed above was shot at Port of  Ancon, Peru by H.J. Ruiz

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